The Mermaid's Curse
by SparrowsWenchXo
Summary: There's something strange living in the seas, and it wants revenge on Captain Jack Sparrow. Sequel to Love Hurts.
1. A Strange Occurrence

Finally! I know I said the sequel would start after some other stories were finished but I just couldn't wait! I had to get this idea out of my head before I forget it. So here you guys have it, the sequel to Love Hurts!

Just something to keep in mind when you read it: This takes place **before** At World's End.

Disclaimer: The usual I-don't-own-any-part-of-POTC as always.

Ch: 1 A Strange Occurrence

6 weeks had passed since Miguel's body was discovered on Rum Island. Most of the crew had forgotten all about it in a few days, but Anamaria still sobbed.

"Oi get over it already, ye make like ye were married," Jack told her nastily, and she looked up at him with the death stare.

"Of course you wouldn't care. You didn't know him or even care to know him," she snapped through a clenched jaw.

"Aye Jack, have some respect fer the dead," Barbossa butted in, placing a comforting hand on Anamaria's quivering shoulder, who shook him away.

"I don't need sympathy from you either," she snarled. "Just leave me be." She moved over to the port side rail and lowered her head to the sea. Barbossa shrugged.

"I was only arguing in ye favor, lass," Barbossa said, regarding her wishes and going down into the hull. Jack stood still for a moment, considering if he should do the same. He approached her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Listen luv-"

"I said let me be!" she growled, pushing him away forcefully. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stared Jack down, who threw his arms in the air.

"It's only for you're advantage!" he tried to argue. Anamaria turned back to the ocean and focused on the sun, sitting low in the sky. Jack glanced at her a final time before giving up and retiring to his quarters.

_

* * *

__Victoria sat at a desk in his cabin pouring over some charts, not even bothering to look up when Jack entered. He shut the door behind him and walked to her. "Might I inquire as to why your reading star charts?"_

_She looked up at him and smiled faintly. "Just checking something is all." She turned back to the charts, and Jack watched her as she studied the constellations around the country of Japan. He put his hands on her neck and began to massage her tense muscles._

_"I take it your too busy to do anything," he said after a while of rubbing her neck. Victoria closed her eyes and leaned back into him._

_"Is that the only reason you came in here?" she asked, peeping her eyes open to see his response. A small smile played across his lips._

_"Dearie, I think ye be forgetting whose cabin this really is," he replied. "I merely came in here for a lie down."_

_"So that explains why your massaging my neck?' she retorted, and for a second his hands stopped their rhythmic kneading._

_"Am I not allowed to do that?" he questioned, continuing with rubbing. She didn't say anything, just relished his relaxing hands soothing her tense neck._

_"I could always look at the maps another time," she said finally, standing up and letting Jack take her over to the bed. A magnificent sun beamed through the glass into the cabin as he started to kiss her._

_"Ouch-" she drew back, her hand clamped on her shin. "Can you take off your sword. I think you just stabbed me."_

_"I did not. My sword's next to the maps," he replied._

_"Then your pistol must have shot me or something."_

_"Luv that's over there too."_

_Victoria looked over to see all his effects scattered on the desk where she was sitting. "I don't know. I just got this random pain in my leg..."_

_"You probably just cramped up. That happens when you sit all day." He reached for her leg and rubbed it gently, lowering his lips to it and kissing her knee._

_"Probably..." she let him do as he pleased, but no matter how much massaging his hands did to her leg the pain only grew worse. Her foot twitched as the pain moved to the other leg and she bit down hard as it radiated all the way up to her hips._

_"Does it still hurt?" he asked, slightly worried. His voice was fuzzy in her head, and she couldn't comprehend what he was saying to her. Another voice in her head took over, speaking as if it were underwater._

_To the depths with ye, never to be seen after sunset..._

_The bone chilling, female voice played over and over in her brain, her legs twisting and on fire. Her eyes slammed shut and her jaw locked up involuntarily, and she tried to cry out for help but to no avail. Her head swarmed as the haunting voice continued to repeat itself, now the splashing of water and bubbles being added to the mix. Her legs screamed and her knees slammed into each other, and Victoria couldn't stop her feet from intertwining._

_The depths with ye...sunset...depths...never again..._

// I fixed this chapter because it seemed very confusing. The whole part about the charts and her leg and the voice is her dreaming. Hope that helps y'all. Sorry for the confusion.//


	2. A Bad Dream

Woot finally finished one of my other fics! Now I'll have more time to update this one! I'm thinking about changing the titled to The Mermaid's Calling, but still not sure. For now it'll stay the same.

Disclaimer: Nothing from Pirates of the Caribbean belongs to me. Not Jack, not Will, not Elizabeth, not even the sand Jack stomps on in Rum Island, nor the splinter of wood on the railing of the _Pearl. _Absolutly nothing. But I will. Someday. I _will_ own Jack Sparrow and the whole lot of them! And you all will be jealous!

Ch 2 A Bad Dream

"Tia!" Jack roared, carrying a limp Victoria in his arms. She tossed and turned, cold sweat forming all over her body and she shivered uncontrollably. He bumped into Gibbs, who had scurried over to see what the commotion was all about.

"Get Tia Dalma!" Jack screamed. "And rum!"

In a frenzy the entire crew came on deck, pushing and shoving each other in a hast to hear the captain's orders.

"Jack! Is everything okay?' Will jostled his way through to Jack, holding Elizabeth by the arm. "What's the matter with Victoria?"

"How should I bloody know?" he growled. "Tia!"

He pushed his way to her, holding the unmoving girl close to his chest. The sea witch motioned for him to follow her into his quarters, where she immediately began examining Victoria.

"Jack what 'appened?" Tia asked, patting Victoria's face with a nearby rag. "She 'ave a fever!"

"She can't have a fever! She was sleeping when I found her and she must have been having a bad dream or something 'cause she was kicking around in the middle of the night." He set her down on the bed, and she shook violently and mumbled to herself.

"No sunset- No tail-"

"Victoria?" Jack shook her softly. "The sun's been set. It's morning."

"No- Don't take me-"

Suddenly she shot upright, breathing heavily and kicking at nothing. "Jack!"

He put his hand on her arm and managed to make her stop thrashing. Before he could speak she started screaming again.

"She wants to take me away Jack! Nanami's going to get me- Lemon- Get me a lemon!"

She fell back down onto the blankets and went still. Jack looked at Tia with a questioning expression.

"Lemons? What good will that do her? And who is she talking about?"

Tia placed the back of her hand on Victoria's forehead. "I don know, but she burnin up. Get a bucket o' water in 'ere."

Jack ran out of the cabin, and in his rush, collided with Gibbs.

"Aye captain I got ye rum-"

"Too late," he replied, shoving the filthy man out of his way. "Get me a bucket of water!"

"Is everything okay?"

"It will be once I have mi water! Now go get it!" he demanded, kicking empty crates at his feet. His eyes darted across the deck in search for something,_ anything_, to put water in.

"Jack," Elizabeth interrupted, taping him on the shoulder. "What do you need water for? Gibbs just told me you-"

"Don't ask just do it!" he bellowed. She nodded and ran down to the hull. One her way down she nearly tripped over someone's foot on the stairs.

"Will! Jack needs a bucket of water!"

"For what?" he asked, following behind her. "There's plenty of water in the cellars-"

She stopped dead in her tracks. "Cellars?"

"Yeah." He grabbed her arm and pulled her down a flight of steps. He took a lantern off the hook on the wall, lit it and led her inside the dank cellar. "Over there. In front of the rum."

Elizabeth looked around frantically for where his finger pointed to. "Here?" she asked, picking up a jug.

"Aye. Now let's go."

The warm water sloshed as they ran back up the steps to the deck, where they immediately began looking for Jack. "Check his cabin first," Elizabeth suggested, dragging Will in that direction and slamming her fists on the door. "Jack! We have your water!"

The door flew open. "What the bloody hell do you want?" Jack asked exasperatedly. Elizabeth held up the jug of water.

"We found water-"

"I don't need it anymore." He proceeded to slam the door in her face, but Will caught it and pushed it open.

"I think we have a right to know what's going on."

"Not really no." He tried to shove Will back out of the room, but gave up when Elizabeth slipped past and approached Victoria.

"Is she alright?' she asked in dismay. "She's breathing quite heavily-"

"I have eyes I can bloody see," Jack replied bitterly. "Now if you don't mind I'd appreciate you leaving mi cabin."

"Tia what's wrong with her?' Elizabeth questioned, completely ignoring Jack's request. Will joined her with a look of concern.

"I thinkin' she be ill," Tia replied. "She 'ave a fever."

"And she's delirious," Jack concluded impatiently. "Now go."

"All of a sudden?" Elizabeth asked.

"Aye," Tia replied. She reached over to the bowl of water, which Gibbs had brought to them, and dipped a rag in it. Will watched as she placed it carefully over Victoria's eyes.

"Maybe she has an infection," Elizabeth proposed, looking at Victoria's helpless body.

"I didn't see anyt'ing," Tia said. "No cuts on her arms o' legs o' 'ands-"

"Did you check under her clothes?' Will chimed in, causing everyone to stop and look at him. "What? Well did you? It's only common sense!"

'Will!" Elizabeth exclaimed in disbelief. Tia looked at him expectantly.

"The girl may be right," she said, moving closer to Victoria. "She migh' 'ave a scratch on her thigh..." Tia started to lift up Victoria's shirt, and Jack grabbed her wrist. "What?'

He paused. "You really plan on undressing her at _this_ moment?'

"Unless you 'ave a better way of seein' her skin through her clothes, den yes."

He looked over at Will. "I'd feel more comfortable if I did it meself," he said sheepishly.

"But Jack you don't know what to look for!" Elizabeth argued. "It would be to Victoria's best advantage if Tia-"

"I'm pretty sure I know what blood looks like," he said sarcastically. He waited for the three to leave his cabin, but none moved. "Well? Go on, get out."

"Come on Elizabeth," Will said. He led her out of the room. Tia rolled her eyes and followed them outside.

//This chapter too has been updated. Basically just the title and some spelling/grammar corrections. Before the title made absolutly no sense, so now hopefully y'all can read more comfortably. Review please ;)//


	3. Unknown Sickness

Yeah I remembered to update! -claps then looks around to see no one else clapping- Ahem, nevermind. Just read and review as usual. 'Cause I know you'll _all_ review like you _always_ do. -sarcastic-

Disclaimer- パイレーツ・オブ・カリビアンは私に属していません (Pirates of the Caribbean does not belong to me) -How awesome is that! Gotta love Japanese! 愛 And yes I have a thing for different languages, as you have probably been able to tell from the last fic.

-coughs- Pardon me, very hyper today. School's out and you have no idea how overjoyed I am.

Ch 3 Unknown Sickness

Hesitant at first, Jack looked down at the ill girl and thought of how he was to undress her. He laid his hands on her shoulder and gently shook her first, which caused her to stir. She opened her eyes wearily and blinked away the sleep, her face pain-stricken.

"What's the matter?' she asked feebly, sensing Jack's uneasiness. She tried to sit up but cried out as a numbing pain shot through her body and up her spine. Victoria lay on her stomach, clutching the bedclothes in her fist and clenching her jaw as Jack started to take her shirt off. "What are you doing?" She bit down hard as the tears started to trail down her cheeks.

"Checking to see if you have any cuts or the sort-" He lifted it to her shoulder blades and then stopped abruptly, eyes wide with what lay before him. Her back was a bloody mess, with shining red liquid oozing out of her skin and running down her sides. It pooled on the bed around her, staining the white linen a deep brown-red. Jack pulled the shirt as lightly as he could over her head, seeing that she had passed out again. Like the sheets, her blood defiled the cloth, and Jack wondered how he or Tia could have missed it. He quickly tossed it aside and removed the damp rag on her forehead. He began to blot her back, frequently rinsing it in the bowl of water. Every so often he would brush the rag over her spine, and heard Victoria stifle a sob and writhe beneath him. Squinting his eyes, he carefully examined where the source of the blood was coming from, noticing a slash at the base of her neck. Jack's eyes went wide with shock as he saw the word _Revenge_ clearly cut into her skin, ending right above her buttocks.

Evidently it was a wound, a large one in fact, but it did not seem to be infected. Nonetheless, he stood up and went to the door.

"Tia," he called, "I found something that might be of interest to you."

As if all one person, Tia, Elizabeth and Will pushed their way into the cabin. Elizabeth was the first to speak, and the first to have to sit down.

"How did that happen!" she exclaimed, steadying herself with the arm of a nearby chair. Her eyes were locked on the soiled, blood-soaked sheets and the raised scars on her back. Elizabeth's face grew green as she watched the sanguine liquid drip down Victoria's sides, despite Jack's constant blotting. Will too had a nauseated looked on his face, and expressed his thoughts solely through his facial expressions.

Tia instinctively began to study the scars, mumbling and arguing with herself under her breath. She traced the letters with her ebony fingertips, carefully feeling the marks down her back. She stopped halfway to wipe her fingers, which were coated in Victoria's blood, and then continued her inspection. She was engrossed in the scars, seeming almost to be in a trace as her dark skin came in contact with the girl's light flesh. Tia was so absorbed that she had not felt Victoria begin to rouse.

"Wh - What's wrong?" she stammered, cognizant of everyone flocked around her with grim stares. The only feedback she received was a disquieted glance from Elizabeth. Jack hovered over Tia's shoulder while she worked, who was still oblivious to the fact that Victoria had awoken.

As Victoria tried to move herself to get a better look at the voodoo priestess, she felt immense pain in her back, followed by the gush of profuse bleeding. Dizziness clouded her mind, caused probably from the great amount of blood loss. She could hear the scrape of a chair leg on the wooden floor, like it was being pulled back rather quickly, along with Jack's deep, bellowing voice. Her mind slipped in and out of focus, comprehending half of what was going on in the room. A voice in the corner of her brain sounded, weak at first but chanting with growing strength. The surroundings were blocked out by the mystifying echo of being underwater, and somewhere in the distance of her mind she heard shrill screams, their words fathomless. The baleful hymn overtook her mind but no matter how hard she tried to listen to what it said, it was incomprehensible. Her body became numb to any pain being inflicted on her pleading being, along with the blackening and loss of her vision. Slowly she slipped away, and although she physically felt nothing, there was something that told her it was her end... Something indefinite, miles and miles away, controlling her like a puppet and whisking away her soul in a matter of seconds...

//Amazing how short a chapter looks without any dialogue... I really find that quite strange...hmmm... -ponders while you review-//


	4. Why Am I Here?

Ok, so now this story is actually going to start making sense, lol. From now on each chapter is going to switch between the POV of Jack and Victoria, starting with Victoria. So the next chapter will be Jack, then Victoria, and so on. It should make it a lot easier for you guys to read, so there wont be any reason for you not to review! Mwahahaha!

Disclaimer- Oh my goddness! I think this is a chapter where I _actually _own something! Wait, no damn the _Black Pearl_ is mentioned at the end, and Tia is too somewhere in the middle. Came pretty close though, as close as I would come to owning anything from POTC at least. -frowns-

Ch 4 Why Am I Here?

When Victoria regained consciousness, she felt an extreme amount of pressure pushing down on her head. She opened her eyes and gazed around, perplexed by her surroundings. A large school of small, rainbow colored fish darted around her, and she heard the squeals of a pod of dolphins in the distance. A slimy eel brushed past her and she jumped back. She heard her own voice in her head, obscure and unusual.

_Where am I?_

She took in a deep breath and let it out heavily, causing bubbles to float about around her. She lifted her hand and examined it, turning it over and paying close attention to her fingers. Nothing different. Slowly she looked down at her body, realizing that she was topless, and immediately threw her arms around her chest. She gasped in disbelief when she saw the start of something blue and scaly at her waist, covering her legs completely, all the way down to her ankles. At her feet it branched out into two long silvery fins.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the tail attached to her_. How did this happen? What did Tia do to me_?

Her stomach became queasy as a whirlwind of thoughts hit her. _What if I'm stuck down here forever? What if nobody ever finds me? What if..._

Victoria's mind trailed off with a million different _What if_s, and to make matters even better, the chilling female voice was back.

_Don't worry honey, fins make the life so much better..._

"Who are you?" Victoria called out, her voice shaky. She felt the rush of water being moved by her arm, and spun around quickly to see what it was.

_Relax dear, nothing is going to hurt you down here. Go on, swim around and get used to it..._

"What do you want?" She whipped around again, the water making her hair billow like a light brown flag, her eyes and tone filled with fear and confusion. "I don't understand why you need me."

_That's not important now... Just follow the reef to the end, and you will find a cavern. All your concerns will be answered there._

The whoosh of water ceased and Victoria stopped chasing it around in circles. Slightly dizzy and extremely disoriented, she let her body sink down onto the soft sand and buried her face in her arms, weeping. She was surrounded by a rainbow of colors, ranging from deep purple to pale yellow. Sea anemones wavered as the current of water swept over them, the copious eel grass brushed against her fins, while a small blue crab scuttled up her tail. She swatter it away distractedly, and it nipped her finger tip with its tiny pinchers. A shadow passed over her, and she quickly turned her attention to it, gasping. A large tiger shark swam down and joined her at her spot on the seabed, and she inched her body away.

The magnificent creature was unlike anything Victoria had ever seen, and she admired it with awe. Its sleek, torpedo shaped body was easily at least four feet long, with faded black stripes painted down its sides. Its face and fins had a number of scars, including a sizable nick taken out of the dorsal fin. The shark looked old and worn, and it gazed at Victoria with a curious, clouded pupil.

_Follow Kaito. He will lead you to me._

Victoria shook her head slowly. "No- I- I can't..." She went to back away but was imprisoned by the reef. The shark closed in on her, and on an instinctive impulse she gripped the rough coral in her palms, wincing as it sliced through her skin.

_He doesn't bite... He won't harm you if you go willingly..._

With his powerful tail Kaito whisked Victoria away from the reef and began to carry her off. She was too scared to protest, and let the creature control her. The only thing on her mind was how she was going to get back to the _Pearl_ unharmed. Rather _if_ she was going to get back alive.

//I thought Kaito's name written in Kanji was pretty cool, so I had to put it in: **海斗** And just for kicks, here's what the woman speaking to Victoria is called, again in Kanji: **七海.** Don't forget to leave a review!//


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